Similar But Different

The 1.4 inches of snow that fell on October 4, was the 3rd earliest 1 inch snowfall on record in Fargo Moorhead. The last time a 1 inch snow fell this early was back on October 2, 1950. The earliest 1 inch snowfall on record occurred 100 years ago, when 2 inches fell on September 25, 1912. Although, the snow last week was technically the earliest such event in over 60 years, if you add a few days to the calendar, a similar event occurred not long ago.

On October 11, 2006 it snowed lightly throughout the day with 1.6 inches being measured. Granted, it was not part of a huge storm as was the case last week, but locally it produced similar results. Astute readers may remember that 2006 was our last warm dry summer. Coincidence? In many ways, yet, no one should be surprised that comparable weather patterns will sometimes produce very similar results later in a year.

For interest sake only, the winter of 2006-2007 produced 38.8 inches of snow.

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ABOUT

Like any meteorologist, John Wheeler is intrigued by extremes of weather, especially arctic air outbreaks and winter storms. John says he prefers his summers to be hot but in winter, he prefers the cold. John has been a meteorologist at WDAY since May 1985.